Little Amal creators to highlight climate crisis with 12,000-mile trek

The production team behind the Little Amal puppet, which raised awareness about the refugee crisis in Europe, hope their next project a herd of animal puppets going on a 12,000-mile trek - will start a new global conversation about the climate crisis.

- Lanre Bakare

Amir Nizar Zuabi, the Palestinian artist who helped launch the Amal project, said The Herd - which will tour through several African and European cities and feature dozens of puppets will be a "soft, beautiful evocation to think differently" about the climate crisis.

"Climate change is the biggest story we're facing now," said Zuabi. "It's often presented in terms of emissions and the Kyoto agreement - people struggle to fathom that, but what Amal did beautifully and what we hope The Herd becomes is a visceral engagement with the issue." The Herd will start its journey in west Africa in spring 2025; the precise point is still to be confirmed.

The planned route includes Senegal, Morocco, Gibraltar, Spain, France, the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and finally Norway.

The "core" herd will contain about 30 puppets representing the migrating animals of the Serengeti, but they will be joined by a "massive migration" of different animals as they arrive in new locations - creating a herd that could swell to many dozens of puppets.